The Ningyo
by cookiemonnmonster
Summary: 'What's that noise coming from down the trail? People? No one comes up here..oh god..please tell me they're not coming back for revenge..they didn't find out that I am...OH GOD PLEASE TELL ME THAT THEY'RE LOST!...wait..THE HELL' KibaXoc haters gonna hate
1. Prologue

**_The Great Ningyo  
_**

_**Prologue**_

* * *

_'Its all your fault you know.'  
N-no. Not it's...it's not!  
'it's all your fault they're dead.'  
No, shut up!  
'You killed them.' The voice laughs.  
No!  
_I woke up screaming and sweating. I sat up and covered my face with my hands. I started to quietly sob.

'It is all my fault. They are all dead because of me.' I sobbed harder as my brain flooded with memories.

"Oh lord Kyofu, please let me marry you daughter, I beg of you." My head moved from its lowered state to look up at where the door would be. A sack had been placed over my head since I was born with a horrible physical deformity. My family was ashamed of me, even my little brother, Aito, who came to visit and talk to me every day, just so I wouldn't get lonely or go insane. Even he was ashamed of me.

My family had hid me from the world ever since and told everyone in our village that I was so beautiful that they couldn't show me to anyone. But once I had turned sixteen, every guy came ask my father if they could marry me. My father would yell at my mother about it every night, furious that she would even try and saying that he doesn't know what he would do if they all found out that I was actually hideous and not as beautiful as he said I was.

"You and everyone else, now leave!" My father sends every wealthy man away. He would be shaking and afraid.

My dad always talks about a great Ningyo sometimes. It's said that if you were to feast on its flesh, you would be eternally beautiful. He tried to capture and kill one for months, and just as he was about to give up, he killed one and brought it home. He had our cooks make it into a soup. I knew something was going on. My dad had stayed in the room while I took off the sack and ate. He never did that. He would always drop the tray on the table in the middle of the room and leave. While I was eating, I felt an enormous pain in my head. I stood up and screamed, but the pain only lasted a few seconds before disappearing completely.

I looked down at my father and he had tears in his eyes and a giant smile on his face. He handed me a mirror that he had brought in with him and when I looked, I didn't see me. I saw a beautiful woman. My once green eyes were now black and I had this mark on my forehead. There was a blue diamond in the middle with a bunch of other marks like snow around it. there were also Blue dots on my cheeks like freckles. My once black hair had turned a red-orange color and grew down to my thighs.

My father was thrilled, but I wasn't. This wasn't me. My family was so happy I was beautiful, that they had a celebration that night. That was the last time I saw them too. They all had drowned. I don't know why I didn't cry that night, but all I did was flee up to the snowy mountain and make me my own home there, trying desperately to forget all that had happened in just a few hours.


	2. I guess no breakfast for us today

_Hey Dudes! this is chapter one if The Great Ningyo, which was FIRST thought up by me and one of my friends, (shyninja135). We got bored, and one day, we went to do an art trade, and I was drawing her Naruto OC, who will be guest staring in my story (EVEN THE SEQUEL SPOILERSPOILER!), and she asked me if I had a Naruto OC. I do have many, but I don't really like them much, so her and I created Akemi together. Akemi is our little baby haha._

_I'm making everyone older than they really are. Instead of them being 15 like in actual Naruto Shippuden, I'm making them 16 and 17. Akemi is 17. Kiba is 16, so on so forth._

_Welp, I'll stop talking now so you can get on reading this story._

**_I DO NOT OWN NARUTO OR ITS CHARACTERS. JUST AKEMI AND PIIRUI AND OTHER CHARACTERS TO BE INTRODUCED._**

* * *

I felt a slick, wet surface grace my skin on my face over and over, making me wake up from a deep, dreamless slumber. I opened my eyes to see my bear cub, Piirui, licking my face. I sat up and pat his head. I stretched and reached for my plain black headband and tied it around my forehead, covering my Ningyo markings. I got up and took care of my bathroom businesses outside and came back to get my hunting equipment, which just consisted of a spear and a small sac.

"Okay Piirui, let's go get us some breakfast." Piirui made an agreeing squeak and we walked down the trail, headed towards the village of Yukigakure, the land of snow. We were headed to the forest that was right before the village. It was a fifteen minute walk from my cave, so it wasn't that bad of a walk. It was bringing the game back that was difficult. I watched at Piirui sniffed for animals. I felt bad for the little gut. The current Kage in the village had send hunters to gather meat for the festival and they tool his mother. I tied to saver her, I even killed two of their hunters, but they used their jutsu to drown the poor thing. I found him in a bush nearby crying, or at least that's what it sounded like. I took him with me back to the cave, feeling bad that I couldn't save its mother, and nursed him back to a good heath. When I told him he could leave, he just say at my feet and gave a happy growl, so I named him Piirui and kept him as my own.

I had pulled out of my memory trance when I heard him growl a low growl. I've never heard him growl like that before, so I grabbed him and hid behind a tree. That's when I heard footsteps.

**~Kiba's POV, The day before~**

"Miss Tsunade? The shinobi you called for are here." I could hear her assistant say. You know, I always forget her name. She was pretty nice though.

"Well, what are you waiting for, send them in!" I sigh. She should learn to be nicer to people or she'll be alone forever. The assistant came back out with a smile on her face.

"Lady Tsunade will see you now." She bow's as Shikamaru, Shino, and I walk by. I have her a smile and a wink and she blushes with a small laugh as she closes the door behind us. All three of us stand in front of her desk, my hands behind my head.

"So Lady Tsunade, what's our mission this time?" She narrows her eyes at me before clicking her tongue and throwing a file at me, which I almost failed to catch. Almost.

"You are going to go to Yukigakure, the land of snow. Naruto had recently gone on a mission there and hasn't returned. We also found out that Hinata had gone after him and had also disappeared. We have reason to suspect that they have been captured, most likely by the same person. You three are going to go there and figure out why they haven't returned, and bring them back. Am I clear?" Shino and I grunted agreeingly.

"Why do I always serve as a replacement for someone missing in a team? So troublesome.." Shikamaru mumbled. Tsunade turned her chair and threw one of her shoes at him, hitting him in the forehead.

"Hey! What was that for!" He yelled in annoyance. Tsunade stood up and went to retrieve her shoe.

"Because, dimwit, you're one of the best shinobi we've got. Plus, everyone else said they wouldn't go there." Tsunade sat back down at her chair while I raised my eyebrow.

"And why is that?" I asked. Tsunade just rolled her eyes and shoo'd us out of her office and out of the building. I walked next to my teammates and we headed back to our houses to get packed. Shikamaru turned to Shino and I.

"Meet up at the gate in ten. I want to leave as soon as possible. You got me Kiba?" Shikamaru questioned. I looked up at him and snorted. I whistled and waited for Akamaru to come and bring me home.

"I gotcha Shika, no need to get your panties in a bunch." He was going to say something back at me when Akamaru showed up and I hopped on his back.

"Well, see ya later guys! Let's go home Akamaru!" Akamaru barked and started off running to our house. On the way there, and while packing, I was thinking about the mission.

'Why would Hinata go off by herself to go find that dumbass Naruto? She could have asked me to go with her. I would have protected her and she would have never gone missing. Damnit Hinata, why do you have to be such an idiot?' I finished my packing and hopped back onto Akamaru again. We headed to the gate to find Shino and Shikamaru already there. I raised my eyebrow as we came up to them.

"Hey why are you guys here so early?" I questioned. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and Shino shook his head.

"We got here on time. You're five minutes late." Shikamaru said. I blinked and looked at the watch on my wrist.

"That can't be right. I swear I left early so I would be here on time..Ugh it must be this damned watch!" Shikamaru rolled his eyes again before walking in the direction of the village we were going to. He had taken the files from me when Tsunade was kicking us out of her tower thing. It was nightfall by the time we reached the village. No one was outside, which was odd considering normally towns still have men out drinking and woman out swooning and so forth. But there was no one. Everything was closed. It was strange. So we set camp, just outside the village gates. We wanted to ask the people a few things before searching around.

By sunrise, people were up and about. Laughing, singing, dancing in the streets. I was looking around at the people while Shikamaru asked people if they've seen Naruto and Hina.

"What strange people." I said to Akamaru, who has gotten a few treats and is quite happy. Shino elbowed me and pointed to Shikamaru who was glaring at me.

"Anyway, so you have seen them?" He says while turning back to the old man. He licked his dry lips before speaking again.

"Yeah. Oh, but not at the same time. I saw the, the boy come in first, went up to the mountain. Nice lad, really. Then, a few days later, that girl came looking for him. She was a sweetie too, although I warned her about the mountains. An evil monster lives deep in them. Anyone that goes up there, never comes back down. We've had men up there one time, to get some food for the, the festival, sent four men we did, and only two came back! Yup, yup!" The old man nodded and Shikamaru bowed.

"Thank you sir." We started to head in the direction of the only mountains that are visible, only to be stopped by the old man again.

"Wait, wait. You're not going up there are you?" I turned to the old man and smiled.

"Indeed we are!" And we headed down the streets of the village, having to ask someone how to get to the entrance to the forest that leads to the path up the mountains. We made to the forest and my stomach rumbled.

"Can we go back into the village and get something to eat? I'm starved!" Shikamaru groaned.

"Kiba, you're so troublesome. You should have gotten some while we were in town already. Idiot." I frowned.

"Then help me find something in this forest because I can't be all manly like with my stomach growling like..wait..That's not my stomach. Akamaru." Akamaru barked and sniffed around.

"Kiba what are you doing?" Shino asked in his cool-like voice.

"Well, I heard a growling noise that wasn't my stomach so there has to be some sort of animal out here that I can catch and cook to eat. And it has to be close, look at Akamaru, he's growling behind a tre-" I was cut off by a girlish scream and Akamaru being bashed on the head. He came over and hid behind me, whimpering. A girl came out from behind the tree holding what looked to be a small black bear. She was wearing a thick coat, which was more like a dress that had fluff at the bottom of it, on the wrists, on the shoulders, and on the hood. There was a bow tied across her good looking breasts. She had green shorts on, like Sakura's and black, thigh high black boots that also had fluff on the top of them. Her eyes were the blackest black and her hair, orange and as long as her thighs. A headband had also went across her forehead. There were also, these light blue dots, six each, going down her cheeks like freckles. She was cute, very cute.

I walked over to her with a big sly grin on my face. I was about to say something to her when she pulled a knife, that had obviously had to have been hiding under her sleeve, on me. She pinned me against the tree and glared, hard, all the while pointing the sharp knife at my throat.

"What are you doing here, mutt." My eyebrow twitched at the word mutt. I still seemed to pull that smile back on my face.

"Oh baby wouldn't you like to know." She pushed the knife farther to my neck. I saw a kunai put up against hers and her eyes shifted to Shikamaru, who was the one who had it in his hand.

"Boy, I would remove that unless you would want to loose and arm." She said but Shikamaru didn't budge.

"I will only remove it once you've removed your knife from my teammate." She snarled and threw me at my friends before clicking her tongue and her black bear was beside her.

"Looks like we're not having breakfast today Piirui. These idiots and mutt scared everything." My eye twitched again, knowing she was talking about me. I jogged to catch up to her and put my arm around her shoulders. I could hear her growl under her breath but I didn't pay any mind to it and just winked at her.

"So babe, what's your name?" I asked her. I really was curious as to what her name was. Really! I was! She looked over at me with those piercing black eyes and glared.

"Kyofu, Akemi. And you are you, mutt?" She asked with a bit of venom in her words.

"I'll tell you if you stop calling me mutt." I really was starting to get aggravated with her calling me that. I'm not a mutt.

"But why? Mutt fits you perfectly, don't you think Piirui?" She looked down at her bear cub and it gave an agreeing yip of sort. I just smiled at her while my eye twitched.

"Inuzuka, Kiba. That's my name. Not mutt." Akemi pushed me off of her and stopped a little ahead of us. Shino, Shikamaru, and I all stopped in front of her while she looked at my friends.

"Who are you two?" She asked. Shikamaru raised his hand a little, indicating he was going to speak first.

"Nara, Shikamaru." He said lazily.

"Aburame, Shino." Shino whispered. Akemi just raised one of her perfect eyebrows and put her hands on her nicely rounded hips.

"And why exactly are you guys up here in my mountains?" We all looked at each other before Shino and I looked at Shikamaru to explain.

**~Akemi's POV~**

The boy named Shikamaru sighed lazily and pinched the bridge of his nose. I was seriously starting to get annoyed by these people. They were too lazy and weird and…yeah I just didn't like them.

"So troublesome. We're here in the mountains because two of our teammates, or friends in some cases, went missing here. One was dumb and came here on a mission by himself and most likely got kidnapped, and the second, she went after him when he was deemed missing in our village of Konoha. Then she went missing as well and they were both last seen here in this village. We talked to the villagers and the ones who said they've seen them also said that they've seen them go up here." I nodded at his explanation.

"Does the girl you're talking about have long purple hair?" The mutt Kiba takes a step forward.

"Hinata? Yeah actually. You've seen her?" I nodded.

"She's very nice. I liked her, which is rare for me. I usually hate people. I sent her on the northwest side of the mountain where I believe I saw your blond haired friend go." They all seemed to sigh in relief that I've seen them. The one named Shikamaru, who I've deemed alright in my book, lazy, but alright, spoke up.

"Do you think you could bring us to where you lead Hinata?" He asked quite nicely, and in no way lazy, which was weird since that's the only way I've heard him speak since I met the guy.

"Yeah I guess so. As long as mutt here keeps his hands off of me and doesn't talk." Kiba twitched when I said 'mutt', but still smiled.

"I won't make any promises." He winked at me and I rolled my own eyes at him.

"Just follow me. And keep up ya?" I started walking up the hill to my cave again. Poor Piirui, won't get breakfast today. That's okay though, it won't be the first time. We haven't had breakfast for a couple days. We probably wouldn't have found anything this morning either so it didn't matter that these, ninja's interrupted our hunt. Piirui kept running ahead and turning to watch us get closer, then run ahead again. I smiled at him. He was trying to be playful, but I wasn't really in the mood to play, I just wanted to get these men out of my hair and back to my quiet life on the mountain side.


	3. Are we friends?

"WOULD YOU JUST SHUT UP YOU STUPID MUTT!"

"WOULD YOU STOP CALLING ME MUTT YOU. YOU. YOU..FELINE!"

"THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE ANY DAMN SENSE! HOW WOULD I BE A FUCKING FELINE?"

"THERE'S NO WAY YOU WOULDN'T BE A PUSSY CAT IF YOU COULD JUMP DOWN FROM THAT HEIGHT AND LAND ON YOUR FUCKING FEET!"

"IT WASN'T THAT HIGH YOU FUCKING WUSS! IF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY, YOU WERE SCARED TO JUMP DOWN! WE HAD TO HELP YOU, FUCKING DOG!"

"OH NO YOU-"

"BOTH OF YOU SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTHS! What a drag, you both are troublesome." Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his nose as Shino nodded in agreement. I looked over at Kiba and snarled, Piirui joined in as well. He growled back, hoping his own pet Akamaru would join in, but he came up to me and licked my face over and over until I couldn't help but smile and scratch behind his ears.

"Traitor.." Kiba muttered as he walked past Akamaru, who just yipped at him as he went over to a random tree and sat down.

"Now that your bickering is over, how long will it take to get to the top of the mountain?" We had stopped at Piirui and I's cave to put the sac and spear we had brought with us and had forgotten when we met these freaks. Well, Shikamaru was pretty cool. If everyone was as chill as him, I would totally be okay with leading up to the mountain. But the mutt Kiba and the quiet creepy Shino make me regret agreeing to bring them up there.

"Well I'm not quite sure. To be honest it's going to get dark soon so I think we should set up camp here and continue tomorrow. You don't want to wander in these mountains at night. I promise you." I stated as I picked Piirui up and held him in front of Akamaru. They just looked at each other till Akamaru licked Piirui, who made a squeaking sound. Kiba whistled for Akamaru and he scampered off to him. My eyes whipped to him with a small glare, which he returned. I pulled Piirui to me and he rested his head on my shoulder. I walked over to a different tree. We were in a clearing, something that I wasn't used to being in this close to night time. I looked up the tree while scratching behind my pet's ear. He wasn't really a pet, he was more of my little brother, but he treated me like a mother. It's weird really.

I continued to look up to find me a good thick branch up nice and high and that would have good cover from the ground and sky. I smiled when I find the perfect spot. I turned to the rest of the group, it looked like Shikamaru was giving orders.

"Guys, and mutt, I have a suggestion." I practically yelled. Shikamaru looked back at me and motioned me over to them. Shikamaru kinda liked me too. We both thought the two others with us were annoying, with Kiba the mutt being, well a mutt, and Shino complaining that he didn't even want to be on this mission in the first place. I came up to them and put Piirui down, who walked up to Akamaru and poked his leg with his nose.

"What's the suggestion, I was just going to send those two out to get fire wood and some water." I smiled at Shikamaru a little before going into a straight face again.

"You don't want to do that around here. It's not safe, especially if you don't know what's out there. Piirui and I will go out and get some wood and water. You guys would either want to stay at the edges of the clearing, or up in a tree that's got enough cover. You'll want to be quiet also; you might attract things you don't want to." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at me.

"That wasn't much of a suggestion that was more of an order. But I'll go with it since we don't know where we are and what kind of, creatures are out there. There's one thing I want to change with this plan though." I tilted my head to the side a little and narrowed my eyes.

"Don't tell me-" Shikamaru cut me off.

"I want Kiba to go with you." Both Kiba and I started to argue, we both hated each other, we didn't want to be stuck in the woods with no one else around.

"Sorry, but that's how it's going to be. Kiba will be able to carry the water while you carry wood, or vice versa. And if you get attacked while you're out there, Kiba is the best person I know to protect anyone." I snorted and narrowed my eyes at Shikamaru, who I was starting to hate.

"I can handle myself you know! I've done it practically my whole life!" I heard a chuckle behind me and saw that it was Kiba.

"Oh I'm sorry, I took you for a rich snobby girl whose daddy always gives her what she wants." I flinched at the word 'daddy'. Kiba saw this and raised an eyebrow. I turned and whistled, signaling Piirui to come to me, and I started walking off into the forest. Kiba ran after me with Akamaru at his side. When they caught up to us, I didn't say a word to him. I didn't want to. Of course he doesn't know that my dad was ashamed of me up until a few hours before his death. I hadn't told him, or anyone for that matter. The only one that knew was Piirui, but I don't think he can understand a word I'm saying so that didn't count. _Wait a minute_. I stopped walking and Kiba bumped into me.

"Hey, why'd you stop!" I spun quickly around and faced Kiba. I put my figure in his face which made him flinch; I think he thought I was going to hit him or something. I narrowed my eyes at him and he raised an eyebrow.

"W-what?" I narrowed my eyes even more before speaking.

"You said that you're an Inuzuka, didn't you?" Kiba looked confused.

"Yeah. I did. Why?" _'Stay with me.' She shook her head. 'I can't. I have a. A lover back in my own village. I couldn't leave him.'_

I put my hand down and turned to walk on. _Tsume. You had a child, knew where I lived, and never came to tell me? Have you forgotten about me?_

I started to pick up some good fire wood that wouldn't make much visible smoke, but would most surely burn. Kiba just followed behind me. I knew he was confused. I wasn't about to go tell him that I met his mother way before he was even thought of and that her and I made a deal that the child she has will be my best friend of sort. That would be creepy beyond all reason.

"Hey uh, Akemi?" I picked up the last piece of wood that I needed and turned to Kiba.

"What do you want mutt." I wasn't really in the mood to talk. I kind of just wanted to get all this stuff so I could get back to camp to sleep. Kiba sighed.

"You know, my mother spoke of these mountains. She said she met a girl here. The girl took care of her when she was very ill when she was traveling. She turned down the offer of staying with her because she didn't want to leave dad. She wanted me to meet this girl. Said she was the most beautiful person she has ever seen. Also said she was the nicest. But that was years ago. She told me that if she had had me sooner, she would have taken me up into these mountains to meet her. She says that she's dead now, that she has to be. There's no way that she would have survived very long out here." My heart skipped out of fear once we got close to water. I coughed.

"Nice story, but go get the water mutt so we can get back to camp." I saw a vein pop on Kiba's forehead.

"Would you stop calling me mutt?" My eye twitched.

"Uh, no why would I?" He growled and walked towards me, making me back up closer to the water. I looked back and gulped. It looked deep. I turned back to Kiba; all the while my heart was pounding hard in my chest.

"Oh I don't know, maybe it's because it's _insulting _to me and my clan!" Akamaru barked, sounding worried, and Piirui was growling. He knew I was afraid of the water, and couldn't swim. He's seen me almost drown in the small lake down past the village. I was just about at the edge of the water when I tripped and fell in. My heart was beating faster than ever, it felt as if it was going to explode. I wasn't even trying to surface or fight my way up. I knew that I wouldn't have been able to get up there.

'_Don't lie to yourself child, you can use your powers to get up there. Back to the surface where you can breathe freely_.' I couldn't hold my breath much longer by the time I got to the bottom of the lake. I accidently breathed in water.

'_No! I will never use those powers. They're the reason my mother, father, and brother are all dead._' I looked up towards the surface to see a figure coming down, I couldn't see who it was, my vision was going black.

'_Use them child._'

'_No.._' I closed my eyes when the figure got to me and I complete blacked out.

"_So you think she's okay?"_

"_Well I think she is since she's still breathing."_

"_Was she really at the bottom of the lake when you got to her?"_

"_Yeah, one minute she was calling me a mutt, the next, she was at the bottom of the lake with me going after her."_

"_Did she try to swim to the surface?"_

"_No, it was strange.."_

"_You sure you didn't push her?"_

"_She may be a bitch, but I wouldn't purposely push her into a lake then go after her! Damn guys, you really think I hate her that much."_

"_Yes." "Yeah."_

"_Ugh you guys are the worst." _I groaned and opened my eyes slowly to see Kiba walking away from me, and Shikamaru and Shino leaning over me.

"My head hurts. What happened?" I groaned. But then I remembered. I had just about drowned in a lake. I saw that it was day time so I must have been unconscious for a while.

"Kiba pushed you into a lake and you almost drowned." Shino said. I narrowed my eyes at him and sat up slowly, knowing I should take it easy.

"He didn't push me dumbass bug freak, I tripped and fell in!" I felt immediate eyes on me. I looked to see that it was Kiba, looking at me with surprise.

"We swear he pushed you. He said he was mad and backed you close to the lake." I rolled my eyes at Shino and Shikamaru.

"You really think that low of Kiba? I would have never, ever taken him to try and purposely drown some girl, let alone someone who is helping him, just to save her and make him look like a hero. He may be a stupid mutt, but he's not that stupid." Kiba smiled a little bit at the fact I defended him, but wasn't all that happy with me since I still called him a mutt.

Shikamaru just shrugged and got up to get me some water while Shino just walked away to go play with his bugs or something. Kiba came over to me and sat down. We sat in silence while Shikamaru came back over to me with the water. I was sipping on it slowly while we sat. I took a small glance over at him. He was just lying against the tree, that they had put me near, with his arms behind his head and eyes closed. I turned fully to him and just looked at him. I noticed that he had his mother's eyes when I realized he was her son. He also has her nose and lips. It's weird to think that this person, who I just about despise, was supposed to be someone I could be with and not be alone in the damn cave.

I sighed and turned away, sipping on the water again. I heard some movement from beside me but continued to watch Shikamaru put the fire out, or try to. Shino had to come help him. I could see him mumble 'what a drag' under his breath while walking over to his tent.

"So uh, Akemi?" I turned to Kiba with a raised eyebrow. He was looked right at me with the same look I had.

"Why'd you asking me if I was an Inuzuka last night?" I looked down at the water, which was almost gone.

"I was just curious." He obviously didn't believe me.

"Did you know the girl? Is she your mother or sister or something? I mean, she lived in these mountains.." I dumped the rest of the water out and turned to Kiba.

"I was _just _curious okay?" I slowly got up and walked over to where Akamaru and Piirui were lying. I could tell he was still watching me, but I didn't really care. He could look at me all he wanted. I wasn't going to tell him the truth. There's no way I could, I really couldn't do it. When I got over to our fury little friends, Piirui came over to me and jumped, taking me by surprise. I fell backwards and got attacked with licks. Akamaru joined in and I laughed. I pushed them away so I could stand up. I pet both their heads and gave them kisses with a smile.

"Thanks guys, I really needed that." Akamaru barked and Piirui yipped as a response.

"Akamaru, Akemi, Piirui, let's go! We need to leave so we can make it there already!" Shikamaru yelled. I turned to see they had packed up camp and made it look like we weren't even there. Even though I don't know how they got rid of that fire. It makes no god damn sense. Piirui jumped on my shoulder and Akamaru ran to Kiba. I walked over to them and smiled at Shikamaru. I pulled my hood over my head and fixed my headband on my forehead. I'm so happy that it hadn't fallen off or they took it off. I didn't want to have to explain my marks. That would have been really awkward.

"Akemi!" I shook my head and looked over at Shikamaru, apparently they have been trying to get my attention for a few minutes. I know that I was spacing out, but I had no idea they actually wanted to talk to me.

"Sorry, yes?" Kiba smacked his forehead and Shikamaru sighed.

"We were asking you how long it would take to get to where ever we're going." Put my hands on my hips and shifted from one foot to the other while I was thinking.

"I don't know really. If we move fast, we may be able to get there by nightfall, but we would need animals to ride to go as fast as I'm talking about. And Akamaru is the only animal that I believe would be able to run that fast. I can't, I know I can't, and neither can Piirui. If he was bigger this wouldn't be a problem because then one person could ride of Piirui with me and the other could ride with Kiba on Akamaru." Shikamaru looked as though he was thinking. It was either that, or he was looking off into space, which seems like a good option to me.

"Kiba, take Piirui and Akemi on Akamaru, Shino and I will run. I know that we would be able to be as fast as him, wear these-" Shikamaru handed us all some sort of communication device. It went in your ear and had this little, thing that apparently was a mic attached to it. Kiba put it on for me then took my hand and showed me the button to push to talk.

"You push this button then speak. When you're done, let go of the button so you can hear the others reply okay?" I nodded and turned to Shikamaru.

"You sure you can run this?" He nodded and so did Shino.

"If we get lost we'll tell you, although I doubt we will lose you since I know how to track people well." I nodded again and Kiba picked me up and put me on Akamaru, then got on behind me, dangerously close too. I could feel my heart beat harder and I gulped.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Y-yeah I guess so, wait, Piirui!" He jumped up in front of me and curled close to my body. I held onto him so that he wouldn't fall off.

"Lean forward, please." I leaned forward and Kiba leaned over me and put his hands on either side of me, holding onto Akamaru's fur. I felt something hit my back and when I looked behind me I saw that his face was really close to mine, and I saw that necklace. I continued to stare at it. '_Here, take this, I made it for you.' I handed Tsume a necklace that I made out of woven wool and wood. The pendant was one of a dog howling. Tsume smiled and hugged me, which in turn I hugged her back. 'Thank you Akemi, I will cherish it forever.'_

I looked at Kiba, who had seem to get closer to my face and blushed. I quickly turned to face front and noticed we were moving.

"Which way do we go Akemi." He asked. I looked to see where we were and licked my dry lips.

"Go left, if you go right you'll run us right off the mountain." Kiba grunted and told Akamaru where to go. Kiba leaned forward so that his chest was on my back, which made me gulp. I've never had anyone, let alone a guy be _this _close to me, other than Tsume. It's been years since I've had any type of human contact and it feels really weird.

I directed Kiba all the way up the mountain. We didn't speak to each other unless it was to give directions, or even ask for some if I was spacing out. We finally made it to the top of the mountain where an abandoned temple, which was mostly in ruins, lied. Akamaru came to a slow and Kiba sat up and stretched. I sat up, somewhat missing the warmth of his body on mine since when he moved, I got instantly cold. I wrapped my arms around me and looked around. Shikamaru and Shino came up beside us.

"Kiba, do you smell them?" I looked behind me to see him tuck his necklace back in his shirt and sniff the air.

"I don't smell them here, but we should search the place, my nose is freezing, it's not working properly." I smiled and he looked at me with a small smile. He got down and helped me off, but once I got on the ground, I went to walk but tripped. Kiba caught me and my face was against his chest. I blushed and peaked up at him. He had a grin on his face and was looking down at me.

"So I see you want to be closer to my body then princess?" I blushed more and pushed him away while he laughed. I ran after Shikamaru with Piirui on my heels.

"So Shikamaru, what does your guy friend look like? I know what the girl looks like, but I don't want to attack the guy if I see him." Shikamaru pulled out a picture from his pocket and handed it to me.

"His name is Uzamaki, Naruto." I looked at the picture and giggled a little before giving it back.

"He looks like an idiot." Shikamaru smiled.

"He kind of is, in some ways. But he has his smart moments. If someone is in serious danger, he won't play around. He will try his best to help the person, even if it costs him his life." I looked around for a door or hole we could go through.

"He seems like a good guy." Shikamaru grunted in agreement.

"But He's mostly an obnoxious idiot." I giggled again and walked off in a random direction.

"Page us if you find anything!" Shikamaru yelled back at me and I just put my hand up waving. Piirui and I climbed through a hole in a wall and looked down the hallway. It was a little dark, but I could still see nicely. I saw there was a door at one end of the hall, and a stairway leading down on the other. I chose to look in the door first. I opened it a crack and saw the sunlight shine through. There was nothing but an old dusty desk in there, I didn't sense anyone around and Piirui didn't growl so we walked in and searched the desk. There was nothing in there, so I left the room and went down the stairs. I find myself in a larger hallway with more rooms. I search everywhere and walked back to the same floor I came in here on and went back through the hole I saw Kiba and Akamaru laying down on a patch of grass that was in the middle of the courtyard. Kiba had a frown on his face as he looked at the necklace around his neck. I walked over and lay beside him. I looked over and he continued to stare.

"That's a nicely done necklace, where'd you get it?" Kiba put it back in his shirt and looked over at me with the same look he had when he was looking at it.

"My mother. She told me that I should take it with me. She said an old friend made it for her a long time ago and that, if by chance she was still alive, she would notice the necklace and say something. But the only person we've found on this mountain, or any traces of life, is you." I looked at his eyes, which told me that he was desperate to find his mother's friend. I bit my lip. I wanted to tell him, just so Tsume would know I'm still alive, but then Kiba would question me and I didn't want to explain. I looked back up at the sky and shivered. Piirui came up to me and laid on my stomach. I smiled down at him.

"Thanks Piirui, but I'm going to need more than a small furry cub to keep me warm." Piirui yipped and moved so that he was curled up by my head. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about the cold. I sat there shivering till I felt something lay across me and I suddenly feel warm. I opened my eyes and they got wide at what they saw.

***~Kiba's POV~***

I watched as Akemi's brows went up like she was worried and her shiver. Her lips were starting to turn a blue color. You'd think that someone who was in the cold all the time would be used to this. It does seem a lot colder than it did near the base of the mountain. It must just be because we're higher in the sky than before. I sighed and sat up. I unzipped my coat and took it off. I was wearing a long sleeved V neck shirt this time so it's not so bad and threw it on Akemi. I lay back down as she opened her eyes to find my jacket on her. She sat up with wide eyes and looked at me.

"Kiba you-" I cut her off with a wave of my hand.

"I won't get cold. I'm a mutt remember? Plus, I've got Akamaru here, he'll keep me warm. Put it on. You need it more than I do." She just looked at me like she wanted to argue more. I just gave her a look like I wasn't going to take it back and she sighed. She pulled it around her and zipped it up with a sigh. She then smiled and laid back with her eyes closed. I smiled and closed my eyes as well. I ended up falling asleep before I really had time to think of anything.

***~Akemi's POV~***

I breathed in the jacket and it smelled like dog and a somewhat musky smell. It was weird, I liked it. I smiled and snuggled myself into it. I closed my eyes, hoping that I would fall asleep, which I did.

'_Tsume! Time to eat!" Tsume came running into the cave with a smile on her face. She sat down next to me and took the wooden spoon and bowl, which I made, and started eating the rabbit soup I had made._

'_You know that I am eternally grateful that you took me in and helped me while I was ill. I don't think I would have made it through to the village if you had.' I smiled at her._

'_Yeah, well I felt bad about leaving you in the cold like that. I know how it feels to be like that.' Tsume smiled and finished off her soup before we laid down to sleep._

"Aw, would you look at that. The bear owner and the dog lover are cuddling." My eyes snapped open to find my head laying on Kiba's shoulder and his arm around my waist. I shrieked and moved quickly away from him with a blush on my face. He was still asleep and had a smile on his face. I growled and stood up. I walked over and kicked dirt in his face, which woke him instantly.

"HEY, WHAT FUCK WAS THAT FOR!" I just looked at him before walking away to the other side of the courtyard.

***~Kiba's POV~***

I watched her while she walked away to sit on the other side of the courtyard with her bear Piirui. I wasn't even that mad. Yeah, she threw, or kicked dirt in my face, but I wasn't really that mad about it. I sat up and looked at Shikamaru who was watching her with a raised eyebrow.

"What's up with her?" I asked. Shikamaru looked back at me.

"Shino and I came back to find you to cuddling. So when we announced it, she woke up suddenly and freaked out. She didn't look too happy when she saw you have a smile on your face in your sleep, which you've had since we got here." I blushed and looked down at the ground. I know that I woke up, half dazed and shivering. I then felt something snuggle up to me and my scrambled brain had thought it was Akamaru since I felt fur. I went back to sleep after that.

"How long were we asleep for?" Shikamaru thought for a moment.

"Well, we all went searching about two hours ago, so I would have to say you were asleep for an hour." I nodded. That wasn't _so _bad, we weren't in that situation for long. I looked over in the direction of Akemi. She still had my jacket on and was holding it close to her. I got up and walked over and sat next to her.

"You know, I wasn't really mad at you right?" I looked over at her and she was looking at me.

"Yeah I knew." She looked down and started to pick the grass.

"That look you gave me. What was it for?" She glanced at me before looking down again.

"It's nothing, really." I looked away and down as well. I don't' know why she won't tell me, it's not like we're not friends. Wait. Are you friends? I looked back at Akemi and she was weaving blades of grass together.

"I have a question Akemi. It might seem a little odd so bare with me." She doesn't stop but just grunts.

"A-are we friends? I know that we fight a lot, and frankly, you've been getting on my nerves a lot with being a little bitch and calling me a mutt but. Don't friends get on other friends nerves?" She looked over at me and just looked at me.

"The only friend I've got is Piirui." I looked away while popping my jaw. That was pretty surprising. Well, not really.

"Well, I mean. I guess we could try. But you wont be around forever and, neither, uh n-neither will I so don't think this will last forever. You need to go back to your village and leave me here, in my cave, alone. Got it, mutt?" I looked over at her and she was looking at me. I smiled and looked ahead of me.

"Yeah, I got it. So there's no chance of you going to stop calling me mutt is there?" She giggled.

"No way in hell." I clicked my tongue and laid back on the grass.

"Thought so."


End file.
